Ukraine’s president: US will give extra $140 million in aid

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy address the 16th Yalta European Strategy (YES) annual meeting entitled “Happiness Now. New Approaches for a World in Crisis” at the Mystetsky Arsenal Art Center in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. More than 400 leaders from politics, business and society representing from 26 countries will discuss major global challenges and their impact on Europe, Ukraine and the world. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president said Friday that the United States hasn’t only released $250 million in military aid to his country but will also extend an additional $140 million.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a conference in the capital Kyiv that Ukraine will get the new money on top of the sum that was announced a day earlier. He said he welcomes the aid and is thankful to the U.S. for its support of economic sanctions against Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014 and funded separatists in Ukraine’s east.

The Trump administration said Thursday that it has released $250 million in military aid to Ukraine that had been held up. It didn’t mention additional funds.

Zelenskiy’s deputy chief of staff Kirill Tymoshenko confirmed to The Associated Press after the president’s speech that Ukraine is indeed expecting an extra $140 million from the U.S., but he wouldn’t give detail on the source or designation of the funds.

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